If I were a rich man

For those who have had the pleasure of watching the movie ‘Fiddler on the Roof,’ one of the most endearing and catchy songs to emerge from it has got to be the song ‘If I were a rich man’.

In the song Tevye, a Jewish milk farmer asks God what would be so wrong with having a small fortune. Tevye laments that there is no shame in being poor, but that there is no great honour in it either. He sings about all the great things he could and would do if he was rich; how he would spend hours reading the Bible, how he would help solve people’s problems but most of all how he would be able to get his wife all the things that would make her happy. I must admit that like Tevye I have wondered what it would be like not to want for anything, to be able to buy everything my heart desires and more. In my mind having more money would definitely make me a better person, or would it?

IS MONEY THE ROOT OF ALL EVIL?

In 1 Timothy 6:10 we read “For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.” (TNIV).

This verse is often quoted as “Money is the root of all evil,” but the truth is that that is not what this verse is saying. Paul is not telling Timothy that money by itself is evil. He is trying to explain to Timothy that the love of money, or in other words lusting after money, is the root of all kinds of evil. Note that money is not the root of all evil, but rather all kinds of evil. Sin and sinful desires are at the root of all evil, not money (James 1:13-15).

The Message Bible says it so eloquently when it translates 1 Timothy 6:10 as follows: “Lust for money brings trouble and nothing but trouble. Going down that path, some lose their footing in the faith completely and live to regret it bitterly ever after.”
So Paul is trying to teach Timothy that when you put money first, when the choices that you make are solely governed by money or made to get more money and possessions, that you open yourself up to  all sorts of problems. So that is good news, right? You can be as rich as you want to be so long as you don’t lust after money. That sounds easy enough. After all people like Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, King David and King Solomon were all rich men, and God blessed them tremendously. If they can do it so can I.

HOLD YOUR HORSES

Before we get too excited it will help to get the rest of the context of the letter Paul wrote to Timothy. You see Timothy was a young pastor who was looking after a very challenging church in Ephesus. Not only were there problems with doctrinal issues and questions regarding the role of women in ministry in a very patriarchal society, but there were some people in the church in Ephesus who were more interested in the financial gain they could get from their ministries, than doing God’s work. These people were putting money and financial gain before relationships.

Paul wanted Timothy to focus on living life from the right perspective. He wanted Timothy to realise that striving towards earthly riches was far less important that striving toward Godliness and contentment. In 1 Timothy 6:6-9 Paul says the following: “But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that. Those who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction.”

So although there is nothing wrong with money in itself, chasing after it will result in temptation. It is this temptation that causes harmful desires. I know of people who have made unethical and downright dishonest decisions because they valued money above their integrity. They were dishonest and then justified their dishonesty by saying that they would lose too much money if they did the right thing.

WHAT DOES JESUS SAY ABOUT MONEY?

I find it fascinating that there are churches that preach that God wants nothing more for you than to be rich, even though when we look at the life of Jesus and all the Apostles, none of them were wealthy by any means. In fact Jesus had the following to say about money in Mathew 6:24  “No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.”

Remember the rich young man in Mathew 19:16 who asked Jesus what he needed to do to get eternal life? Jesus replied that he had to keep the commandments. The young man replied that he had kept all the commandments. In Verse 21-23 Jesus then replies “If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.  When the young man heard this, he went away sad, because he had great wealth. Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Truly I tell you, it is hard for the rich to enter the kingdom of heaven.”

Why then is it so hard for the rich to enter the Kingdom of heaven? My theory is that when you have so much, you don’t need to rely on God for anything. You think you don’t need faith if you have a medical aid that will cover your medical expenses, if you have more than enough money for food and clothing and if you can buy whatever you need whenever you want it. I read an article once that talked about church attendance in America after the September 11, 2001 Twin Tower bombings in New York. The article spoke about how full the churches were. I reckon it was because people were scared. All of a sudden they needed God. But as soon as the danger seemed to have disappeared, so did their church attendance.

CONCLUSION

In the story ‘The Fiddler on the Roof’ Tevye is approached by the village matchmaker who tells him that the rich village butcher (who is older than Tevye) wants to marry Tevye’s oldest daughter. Tevye agrees to the marriage thinking that if his daughter was wealthy she would be happy and taken care of . When his daughter finds out she is devastated and asks Tevye not to let the marriage go ahead because she is in love with the poor tailor. This situation creates all sorts of trouble.

Tevye has to make a decision between having his daughter marry someone she loves who is poor, or force her into a loveless marriage with someone  who is wealthy.  He finally chooses the happiness of his daughter over wealth. Tevye realises that wealth does not necessarily equate with happiness and avoids the trap that money can set for us.

In the final analysis money is not evil. It is when we desire money more than anything else that we fall prey to its trap. Like Timothy our goal should be to strive for righteousness and not riches. If we strive for Godliness and contentment we will be truly wealthy. In the Words of Epictetus a Greek philosopher – “Wealth consists not in having great possessions, but in having few wants.”